In October, Florida Hospital will launch into the health-insurance business, executives announced today. In partnership with Health First Health Plans, the hospital system expects ultimately to offer both Medicare and private health insurance in as many as 11 Central Florida counties. But it will start small, rolling out a Medicare Advantage plan to residents in Volusia and Flagler counties. Seniors will be able to sign up for Florida Hospital Care Advantage by Oct. 15, when Medicare enrollment begins, said Mike Schultz, president and CEO of the Adventist Health System Florida Region, which includes Florida Hospital.

Thousands of Floridians who signed up for Obamacare health insurance might have citizenship or immigration issues that require them to file additional paperwork by Sept. 5, federal officials announced. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began sending "last-chance" notices last week to Affordable Care Act insurance customers in cases that have data mismatches, leading to uncertainties about citizenship or immigration status. The health insurance is available to people who are U.S. citizens or have certain visa or immigration statuses.

The health-care crisis is turning into a daily nightmare. The insurance-exchange website is a mess, people are getting dropped from their policies, employers are bracing for huge hikes in their insurance plans, and meanwhile, the medical community is trying to figure this entire thing out. This is not how it was supposed to be. As a medical professional and American, I am very frustrated and concerned with what is going on. I encourage our...

Monthly premiums for the second year of Obamacare health insurance plans are expected to rise an average of 13 percent, Florida officials announced Monday. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has completed its analysis of recently submitted health insurance plans from 19 companies in Florida, and also estimated the 2015 federal subsidies that such families could expect. After those subsidies are applied, the monthly cost will range between $400 and 600 per family in most counties, according to the state analysis.

Republicans in the state Capitol are still waging war on Obamacare, more than three years after the Affordable Care Act became law and almost a year after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it constitutional. The war isn't just pointless. It hurts Floridians who could benefit from the law. This year the GOP-led Legislature turned down $51 billion in federal funds under Obamacare to extend health coverage to more than 1 million uninsured Floridians. Even Gov. Rick Scott, who launched his political career fighting health care reform, had urged lawmakers to take the money.

The Florida Legislature made headlines this year by requiring members of the state's relatively well-funded retirement system to contribute to their pensions. But they did less — actually, nothing — about another growing but stealthy financial burden for local governments and their taxpayers: health benefits for retired workers. State law requires local governments in Florida to offer their retirees health insurance at the same cost as coverage for active employees, which amounts to a discount for retirees.

If you live in Alabama, chances are that you buy your health insurance from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, which controls 93 percent of the health-insurance market in the state. If you live in Wichita, Kan., you probably buy health insurance from Preferred Health Systems, which has 81 percent of that city's market. Those in Florida have a good chance of their health insurance coming from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, which controls 40 percent of the state's market.

Health insurance costs aren't just a patient concern. Dealing with health insurance paperwork costs American doctors an average of nearly $83,000 per year. That's the cost of the time and labor it takes for physicians' employees to correspond with various insurance plans about claims, coverage and billing for patient care and prescription drugs. The study, published Wednesday in the journal Health Affairs, found thatCanadian physicians spend about a fourth as much as their American counterparts to complete their necessary paperwork.

I'm going out on a limb to predict that broccoli will become a major campaign issue in 2012. Huh? On June 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will hear oral argument in Florida v. The United States Department of Health and Human Services. The case originated when the Attorneys General of 20 states joined to file a challenge to the constitutionality of the new health-care reform bill. The key issue centers on whether Congress has the power under the Constitution to require individuals either to purchase health insurance or face paying a fine (the so-called "individual mandate")

The number of Americans with health insurance dropped for the first time since the government started collecting insurance information in 1987. Now 16.7 percent of American are uninsured, from 46.3 million Americans in 2008 to 50.7 million in 2009, according to census data released today. Florida has the second-highest percent of uninsured at 22.4 percent in 2009, up from 20 percent in 2008. That's 4.1 million Floridians without health insurance, up from 3.6 million in 2008.

Walt Disney World has reached a tentative agreement with its largest union group that includes a minimum hourly rate of $10 for full-time workers starting in 2016. Disney made the deal with the Services Trade Council, a coalition of six unions covering 21,000 full-time workers, just minutes before its contract was to expire late Thursday night. That contract was extended to allow workers to vote on the new one Aug. 1. The agreement keeps in place the company's pension plan for new hires, union representatives said.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of two corporations that argued that they should not have to provide insurance coverage for their employees' birth control because of the business owners' personal religious beliefs. Employers now have the power to deny women the new birth-control benefits of the Affordable Care Act - allowing bosses to force their personal beliefs on employees. The so-called Hobby Lobby decision comes just days after another blow to women's health and rights.

More than 90 percent of Floridians who bought Obamacare qualified for federal tax subsidies, and as a result their average monthly health insurance monthly premium is $68, according to a new federal report. The report, released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, shows that Floridians did better than residents of most states in the new Affordable Care Act marketplace that opened Oct. 1 and closed April 15. Nationally, about 87 percent of Obamacare clients got subsidies, and the average premium was $82 a month.

Attack on gun ownership A person using a knife, a car and a gun killed six people on Friday. The recent killing spree near Santa Barbara, Calif., is horrible. Videos posted by the alleged killer aroused the concern of his parents and police, but the person about to commit mass murder was still free to roam. We are left to be aware of our surroundings and protect ourselves from attacks from such people. Emotional blaming of gun owners, the National Rifle Association and our right to defend ourselves soon followed.

Living with bears Although an oft-heard "solution" for black bears in Central Florida has been bear hunts, there is a much easier, cheaper and humane way to address black bears in our area. The solution is simple: by securing our trash and trash cans in bear-proof trash cans, we can prevent the bears from venturing onto residential property in the first place. It is extremely easy for humans to undertake this simple change. First and foremost, people should be encouraged to switch to cans that are capable of being fully sealed, which remain secured even when placed outside.

By the end of the year, a new emergency-care center in Winter Park will open, offering treatment for broken bones, heart palpitations and even more serious medical issues such as strokes. The twist: The health center will be directly affiliated with a health-insurance company. GuideWell Emergency Doctors and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida will be owned by the same company, GuideWell Health, that has begun purchasing or opening doctors' practices in Largo, Tallahassee and now Winter Park.

Today marks the five-year anniversary of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act. We must keep CHIP strong so that five years from now, the medical needs of our most vulnerable citizens continue to be met. More than 415,000 children in Florida and eight million children across the country rely on CHIP for high-quality, affordable health-care coverage. Since its establishment in 1997, it has served millions more, providing age-appropriate health benefits to children in families who earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid but too little to afford private coverage for dependents.

Although the insurance marketplace officially closed to enrollees in March, some folks may still be able to sign up for Obamacare. Under a provision outlined in the Affordable Care Act, Americans who have had a disruption in their insurance benefits or a significant life event - had a baby, lost a job, got divorced or married -- can still sign up for coverage through the exchange, provided they try within 60 days of the event, said Anne Packham, a...

Last year, employers spent an average of $11,000 per employee for health care. Those premiums increase each year - generally around 8 percent per year - to cover costs associated with uncompensated care provided in hospitals. In 2012, the cost of treating those who could not afford to pay for their care in Florida was nearly $3 billion. These billions of dollars in uncompensated care result in an enormous and growing "hidden tax" that places a huge burden on our state's businesses.